THE
RUSSELL
KIRK
CENTER
NEWSLETTER
 Benjamin G. Lockerd
Editor
[email protected]
 Noelle Kasa
Editorial Assistant
[email protected]
 Danielle Richmond
RKC Assistant
[email protected]
Donations to
the Russell Kirk
Center may be
sent to:
P.O. Box 4
Mecosta, MI
49332
Online at:
www.kirkcenter.org
“Support Us”
Permanent
Things
Number 20
Spring
Spring2012
2012
RUSSELL KIRK IN TIME MAGAZINE
The February 13, 2012 issue of TIME
magazine featured an article by David Von
Drehle on the topic of “The Conservative
Identity Crisis.” In the article, Von Drehle
describes the important historical impact
Russell Kirk made on conservative
thought, saying, “modern conservatism
was born in the early 1950s…[when a]
young writer named Russell Kirk
unearthed a rich philosophical tradition
going back to British writer and politician
Edmund Burke; Kirk's 1953 book, The
Conservative Mind, was a sensation,
influencing a generation that included
William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, and
Ronald Reagan.”
Von Drehle goes on to say, “Kirk's was
never the only brand of conservatism, but
his ideas were like a magnet pulling others
toward them, and steadily, a coalition of
the right was formed. Kirk emphasized the
religious roots of society, which spoke to
the rising Christian conservatism of the
1970s. He counseled slow and orderly
change rather than radical or utopian
schemes; this made his movement a
welcoming home for Americans unnerved
by the social revolution of the 1960s and
’70s. He held that individual property is the
root of freedom…and he cherished
traditional values and local institutions
rather than shiny new ideas from central
head-quarters, which made his philosophy
a comfortable place for the inevitable
backlash against Washington and the New
Deal.”
In an interview, Von Drehle described
his connections to the work of Russell
Kirk saying, “I became familiar with Russell
Kirk when I
was pursuing
my Master
of Letters
degree in
English at
Oxford
University
some 30 years
ago. I wrote a
thesis on the
political
philosophy of T.S. Eliot, and of course in
the process of researching that project I
read Dr. Kirk's masterful book The
Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot. I left
graduate school a journalist rather than an
English professor, and as I got deeper into
covering politics, I came to understand Dr.
Kirk's lofty place in the intellectual history
of the American conservative movement.
When TIME asked me to write an essay on
the state of the conservative movement
today, I decided to focus on the
philosophical tensions that now exist
between the heirs of Kirk and the
currently ascendant libertarian wing of the
movement.”
Von Drehle believes conservatives
today have an important lesson to learn
from Kirk because, “There is a radical edge
to some of today's libertarianism—an
individualism so extreme that it is offputting to all but the disciples of Ayn Rand.
A reading of Kirk serves to remind
conservatives that their movement is also
rooted in ideas of order, humility,
community, and faith.”
Page 2
Permanent Things
BOOK LAUNCH IN BRAZIL
Launch party, São Paulo University, Dec. 2011
Annette Kirk, Angela Zogbi, Edson Filho,
and Felicia Kirk Flores
Edson Filho (editor), Pedro Sette-Câmara (translator),
Annette Kirk, and Alex Catharino
Receptive audience at book launch,
São Paulo University, Dec. 2011
Partnership between É Realizações and The Russell Kirk Center
Edson Oliveira, publisher of É Realizações, is being referred to as one of the most exciting publishers in Brazil nowadays. Having discovered a market
that was not being served in his country, he is shaking up the publishing world by translating into Portuguese and publishing books about the liberal arts
and conservative thought.
Last year, the Russell Kirk Center entered into
an agreement with the Brazilian publishing house É
Realizações to establish a “Research and Translation
Program for Brazilian Scholars.” Under this arrangement, the RKC will provide facilities for scholars
conducting research relating to Russell Kirk and the
work of other important conservative authors.
As part of this collaboration, Márcia Xavier de
Brito has been doing the first translations into Portuguese of Kirk’s books, and I have been writing introductions to those works. Both Márcia and I have
been consulting Russell Kirk’s Library and the extensive archive of writings and manuscripts while preparing Kirk books for Brazilian publication.
The first Kirk book published under this arrangement was Eliot and His Age, launched last December
in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with lectures by
Annette Kirk and me. As this was the first book of
Russell Kirk to be published in Brazil, the presence
of Annette Kirk, the widow of the author, made
the launching of the book more personal for the
audience, as they could ask many questions about
Kirk’s life and thought.
This launching was a success. More than a hundred
people attended the lectures. The Portuguese edition of
Eliot and His Age was reviewed in the literary supplement of Estado de São Paulo, one of the most influential
Brazilian newspapers, and in Revista Veja, the most
popular weekly magazine in that country, with an average of 8.5 million readers. An interview with Annette
Kirk by the most famous Brazilian conservative philosopher, Professor Luiz Felipe Pondé, was published in the
cultural supplement of Folha de São Paulo, the second
biggest Brazilian newspaper, with a daily circulation of
300,000 printed copies.
Alex Catharino
Executive Vice President of
Centro Interdisciplinar de Ética
e Economia Personalista (CIEEP)
Assistant Editor of
Communio Review (Brazilian ed.)
Number 20
Page 3
Interview with Edson de Oliveira Filho, É Realizações Publisher
Last December, Russell Kirk’s memory and moral
imagination arrived in Brazil. Having as hosts Mrs. Annette
Kirk, É Realizações Publishing Company, and the legacy of
T. S. Eliot, “Russell Kirk” visited the cities of São Paulo and
Rio de Janeiro. For the first time, a broader Portuguesespeaking audience could have access to his writings and
pose questions to Mrs. Kirk and to scholars such as Alex
Catharino and Pedro Sette-Câmara.
quoted by Alex Catharino in the Introduction to the Portuguese edition of Eliot and His Age, “The world is governed,
in any age, not by rationality but by faith: by love, loyalty,
and imagination.”
1. What is the profile and vision of É Realizações
Publishing?
Our vision is to carry out large, long term projects. There
is, for example, the René Girard Library project (a total of
The awakening to Russell Kirk’s intellectual work in
60 titles written not only by Girard but by other scholars
these far-away lands was remarkable: big Brazilian and Latin about his work). We are also publishing Eric Voegelin,
American media companies opened space to debate Kirk’s Christopher Dawson, Bernard Lonergan and Russell Kirk.
thought. Large numbers of letters and e-mails from
And we have other large-scale academic and cultural pubenthusiastic readers arrived at the
lishing projects right now, unparalleled even
publisher’s mailbox, and Eliot and His Age
in Europe or the United States.
was a great success in one of the main
I believe É Realizações must create a cultural
Brazilian book fairs at São Paulo
model in publishing that can be exported for
University. Curiously, this was the first
its outstanding quality, while in Brazil our
time our publishing company had a display
company also plays the role of a producing
at this book fair.
and diffusing center of culture. We are plural and globalized, without any political disThe Moral Imagination in the Twentieth
tinctions—as is our contemporary world.
Century, as says the subtitle, in the clear
Another important thing is that our publishperception of Kirk and in the subtleties of
ing company never wanted to sell only
Eliot’s poetry, is enlightening the Brazilian
“products,” but to create knowledge in a
moral imagination in the twenty-first
unique way that combines editorial projects
century, in a world dramatically changed
and research. Another aspect is that in our
since the book appeared for the first
books we emphasize everything that shows
time, in 1971.
the union of a multitude of different perspectives—everything that links culture, religion
It is a world of disappearing borders
and arts—giving readers the chance to know
and access to information for a number of
the best that has been produced in these areas of human
people never seen before in human history. In a time
where we are quickly passing from the “era of libraries” to knowledge.
the “era of internet,” we are called to conceive of our2. Could you talk about the partnership between É
selves once more as moral beings, exercising even more
Realizações and The Russell Kirk Center? What can
responsibly this intrinsic human ability. The term “moral
imagination,” coined by Edmund Burke, is renewed by Kirk we expect for the future?
and shown in its fullness in writers such as John Henry
This partnership gives me great happiness. We will conNewman, G. K. Chesterton, Irving Babbit, and T. S. Eliot.
tinue not only to publish the works of Russell Kirk, but the
whole intellectual circle that revolves around his legacy.
The twenty-first century mentality, which speaks of
freedom of speech and entitles us, new global citizens, with Our publishing house wants to be the bridge between the
Russell Kirk Center and Brazil, creating a healthy and promany other rights, has to become aware that all technoductive exchange between Brazilian researchers and Kirk
logical gains come with additional responsibilities. In this
scholars worldwide. Concerning Kirk’s works, the next
context, the publishing of Russell Kirk’s works in Brazil in
partnership with the Russell Kirk Center, is not only filling three books to be published in the near future are The
a gap in the Brazilian publishing market, but it is an answer, Politics of Prudence, Edmund Burke, and The Conservative
Mind.
a way of making available Kirk’s exemplary intellectual life
Felipe Cherubin
as well as his ability to understand the world and ourselves.
Press Agent of É Realizações
As he writes in his Sword of Imagination, in a sentence
Page 4
THE
RUSSELL
Permanent Things
Russell Kirk
around the
World
WILBUR
FELLOW
UPDATE:
RYAN STREETER
KIRK
CENTER
NEWSLETTER
The Russell Kirk Center
P.O. Box 4
Mecosta, MI 49332
Phone: 231-972-5590
Fax: 231-972-8078
Email: [email protected]
www.kirkcenter.org
Ryan Streeter is a Distinguished
Visiting Fellow and Director of Fiscal
Studies at Sagamore Institute and serves
as Editor of ConservativeHome.com.
Formerly he was a Senior Fellow at the
Legatum Institute in London and a
Special Assistant to the President for
Domestic Policy at the White House in
2005-2007.
When asked to reflect on the role the
fellowship played in his life, Streeter
answered with candor: “My time as a
Wilbur fellow at The Russell Kirk Center
for Cultural Renewal was a pivotal moment
in my professional development. During the
time I spent at the Center, I benefited in
three consequential ways. First, I was able
to complete the bulk of my dissertation
prospectus (for my Ph.D. in political
philosophy from Emory University) utilizing
the remarkable library holdings and
unmatchable environment for study and
research. Second, I sharpened my arguments
and views through the regular interaction
with other fellows and esteemed visitors to
the Center. Third, through the extended
network of individuals associated with the
Center, I was able to move into the world
of public policy in a way that allowed me to
hold positions of significant responsibility.”
John O’Sullivan & Vigen Guroian Speak at the RKC
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hon. Joanne Emmons
Chairman
Former Senator
Michigan State Senate
Dr. Jeffrey O. Nelson
Vice Chairman
Executive Vice President of
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Annette Y. Kirk
President
The Russell Kirk Center
Dr. Benjamin G. Lockerd
Secretary
Professor of English
Grand Valley State University
Kevin P. Shields
Treasurer
Vice President of
ADP, Inc.
At an October ISI Seminar on GK Chesterton and a Cultural Vision of the Permanent Things, John O’ Sullivan (Former Editor of The National Review) and Vigen
Guroian (Prof. of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity, University of Virginia)
spoke at the RKC. O’Sullivan discussed
“Wit, Wisdom, and Public Discourse: Journalism and Chesterton,” and Guroian discussed “Restoring a Compelling Vision of
the Permanent Things” to a receptive audience.
John O’Sullivan, CBE is Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty’s Vice-President
and Executive Editor, setting editorial
vision and direction for the organization.
He has served as a senior editor at The
London Times and The Daily Telegraph,
and he was a member of the team that
launched the Canadian daily, The National
Post. His recent book, The President, the
Pope, and the Prime Minister, has been
translated into several languages. Vigen
Guroian is the author of The Melody of
Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key, Rallying
the Really Human Things, and Tending the
Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken
a Child’s Imagination.
~ Noelle Kasa